Country Roads of France

Lived up to its name of COUNTRY roads. Well paced. Plenty of walking which we enjoyed but those with less mobility struggled at times. Loved Chamonix so two nights instead of one would be a suggestion.

It was missing local cultural experiences. Except for the Moulin Rouge and Paris, the experience and atmosphere did not reflect being in other parts of France. This did not compare to our last trip, country roads of Italy, where it was livelier and more enjoyable. Every day seemed to be more of the same. Issues: We were supposed to enjoy a lesson in Petanque in Provence but did not. Instead of The Petit Train de Cahors, we visited 2 medieval villages. Unfortunately, No big wow. It took about 5 days to fix the sound system in the coach where it was difficult to hear the director. No French music in the coach. The breakfasts were repetitious, more of the same each morning. Compared to our previous trips, the final highlight dinner in Paris was not up to Insight standards. It was not a memorable evening as in the past. However, we really enjoyed the visits to Annecy, Chamonix, Aix-en-Provence and Dordogne. The hotels were well situated and the "optionals" complimented the itinerary.

Fantastic scenery, lots of medieval villages and interesting points of interest as well as many major cities.

A large variety of cities and walled cities, beautiful southern areas of France, wine country and the alps.

Excellent itinerary. Everything was thought of. Good amount of time in places and free time to explore on your own. Hotels were excellent as was the tour director, Laurant and driver. Could not fault the tour at all. France is a spectacular country and worth visiting.Loved every minute of it.

You haven’t seen France with out seeing the country road of France. Fantastic tour

This tour had so much potential. The city of Paris is divine, and the French villages are stunningly beautiful. However, how does a tour include Paris and not offer an excursion or even an extra day to Versailles? It was a huge miss. The itinerary should include longer stays in places like Chamonix, Monte Carlo, St. Paul de Vence and Sarlat La Canada rather than Troyes, Beaune and Grenoble. There were also changes made to the itinerary that appeared last minute ie not visiting Arles and Cordes Sur Ciel, not experiencing a visit to a vineyard and watching the wine making process, and communicating to tour members in Chamonix at the last minute that they were own on their own, the cable car activity was “sold out” and not offering other suggestions. The hotel accommodations were good except for Le Meridien Paris Arc de Triomphe where our tiny room was like a train cable car with a broken chair, scratched paint on the bathroom walls, and hard mattresses on wheels! The food experience could have been better. We were taken to places where the food selection was poor, the food was cold or over cooked and only offered regular or vegetarian menus, no exceptions. Last, but not least, unfortunately the tour director appeared tired, lacked communication skills adding confusion at times, and exercised poor judgement and poor decision making. Overall it felt like a missed opportunity for greatness since the majority of the locations were spectacular.

Well designed itinerary that allows you to become acquainted with the variety and richness of life in French regions.

We saw and visited some great places, with a busy itinerary. Our Tour Director was great, she was very knowledgeable, organised and personable. The Hotel rooms ranged in size /quality, but overall we're very good. The food was good, especially at the included meals.

The itinerary is great but too many of the experiences were ‘optional extras’ making it a very expensive tour. Also some options were missed due to them being booked out - changed from the original info we received and because the tour guide didn’t book ahead knowing it was peak season etc. Disappointing.

We were in absolute awe seeing the majestic and beautiful castles, medieval villages and chateaus The overall experience was wonderful.

Grenoble should not be on the itinerary. It is one of France’s top 10 unsafe cities. Number 6 to be exact. You should feel safe to walk at night.

The itinerary has been designed to not include any small villages in the Alsace region which is so beautiful and regrettable. Where the Chamonix Mt Blanc is located nearby which is en route to these small villages. The Arles was skipped due to traffic jam is not reasonable because rest of that day 10 was at leisure already and tomorrow day 11 also a full day freetime in Albi which becomes too many leisure time unnecessary. Feedback is for you to make it good the itinerary not to tell other people. I choose this tour because I like Chamonix Mt Blanc and Annecy.

The majority of the itinerary was very good. I would however like to see Grenoble replaced with a nicer choice. We were only there overnight and I am sure there would be better options in the region

Jam packed fun!! Loved this trip and our guide !! The most knowledgeable guide, he knows ALL of France like the back of his hands.

Just loved this tour that took us away from the cities to vthe villages, towns churches, castles and the country beauty of France. And a good pace with not obscene (lol) "bags out" times. The included dinners were delicious except for the last in Paris.. I could haveveasily hopped on the coach and enjoyed the journey again.

Loved the small cities we visited. There was so much to see and learn about. The optional tours were great. I often wished for more time in the towns, but who wouldn’t. Sarlat was beautiful and Albi too.

Interesting local parts of France

Lots of great experiences and amazing places.

Very interesting sites and scenery. Chamonix Mt Blanc was a favorite as was Nice, Monaco, Rocamadour, the Alps and others but all good. Great driver and Tour Director. Hotels were wonderful and some with pools (or the Mediterranean). We had fabulous food at the hotels and restaurants. Very happy I took this trip

Both the tour director and driver did a excellent well done job. However, there are 2 hotels which would take out one star (*). One hotel does not have air conditioning; and the other does not have a minibar. This tour would have had 5-star (*****) if these hotels had improvements.

Really enjoyed all the places in France that we visited

The tour took you many unique areas of France. The Tour Director was excellent. He was very personable, had a great sense of humour, gained quick access to popular venues esp into the Moulin Rouge, a great problem solver if group members had a problem and very knowledgeable about all facets of France. We could not recommend him highly enough!the tour bus had plenty of space and the driver was very competent and a very personable fellow also.

The itinerary is built around a highly comprehensive range of some of the most interesting sights and experiences available. Clearly it has been carefully curated to deliver maximum value and enjoyment with sufficient free time to deliver a well balanced program.

I’m definitely not a city person, so I absolutely loved going to the smaller sized towns. Chamonix and Nice were my 2 absolute favourite places by a long way! Definitely places I’ll be going to in the future!

Great route with interesting beautiful scenery. Each day was well coordinated which included well planned excursions and free time. Our tour guide worked extremely hard to give everyone on the coach details of all areas we visited and was so helpful. He had a great personality and was very approachable.

While you don't get to see big lavender fields featured in the tour documentation, the tour was very good. We traversed many 2 lane country roads where you really get to see the countryside. This tour is not focused on the big city attractions but did spend some time in Paris and Nice. The visit to Moulin Rouge was excellent. Tour Director and driver were outstanding.

The itinerary was marvelous. I enjoyed the town's and cities on the trip. My favorite cities were Albi and Chamonix. I would highly recommend the Country Roads of France tour to those who are interested in the culture, history, and scenery of France and Monaco

I saw places that I would never have found on my own. I also received valuable history from the informative tour director about the places I visited. Every turn was a nice surprise! Beautiful scenery. Mont Blanc was breathtaking. 3 hotels stood out as outstanding…Grand Hotel La Cloche Dijon, Hotel Aquabella Aix En Provence and Hotel Le Perigord La Roque Gageac. Wish we could have stopped to see the lavender fields like in the advertising photos! Maybe on my next visit ….

While there were outstanding places to explore there were some that we considered filler with little to no significance to enjoy. For example on our way to Dijon, the first stop for several hours was nothing more than a break. St Paul de Vence while lovely did not offer much other than shopping to be engaged with. Others like Carcassonne were spectacular.

It was great